{"id":57,"date":"2013-10-31T00:33:47","date_gmt":"2013-10-31T05:33:47","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/tngenweb.org\/morgantn\/?p=57"},"modified":"2017-06-20T22:31:59","modified_gmt":"2017-06-21T03:31:59","slug":"goodspeeds-history-of-morgan-county-1887","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/tngenweb.org\/morgan\/goodspeeds-history-of-morgan-county-1887\/","title":{"rendered":"Goodspeed’s History of Morgan County (1887)"},"content":{"rendered":"

MORGAN COUNTY<\/b>\u00a0is situated on the Cumberland Plateau, which has an elevation of about 1,500 feet above the sea.\u00a0 It is surrounded by the counties of Scott, Anderson, Roane, Cumberland and Fentress.\u00a0 The greater portion of the surface is very broken, especially in the southern part.\u00a0 The principal mountains are the Crab Orchard, Lone and Brushy, the general trend of which is about the same as that of the Cumberland Range.\u00a0 The largest streams in the county are the Emory and the Obed Rivers, with their respective tributaries, Crooked Fork and Clear Creek, and the Clear Fork of the Cumberland River and White Oak Creek.<\/span><\/p>\n

The mineral resources consist in extensive deposits of coal and iron.\u00a0 The soil, except in the bottoms, is not naturally rich, but is susceptible of a high degree of cultivation.\u00a0 Experiments have been made, extending over a period of several years and it is found that nearly all valuable grasses can be successfully raised.\u00a0\u00a0 It is believed, however, that the growing of fruit is destined to become the most remunerative industry of not only Morgan County, but the entire Cumberland Plateau.\u00a0 All fruits known to this latitude are grown here to perfection.\u00a0 Especially is this true of grapes for wine making and this crop rarely if ever fails.<\/span><\/p>\n

The settlement of Morgan County began soon after the Indian title to the lands was extinguished.\u00a0 One of the first settlers, if not the first, was\u00a0SAMUEL HALL<\/b>, who located about seven miles northeast of Wartburg in 1807.\u00a0 He had a large family of children, among whom were\u00a0DAVID, ELIJAH, ELISHA, LUKE AND GARRETT HALL<\/b>.\u00a0 His brother, MARTIN HALL,<\/b>\u00a0located in the same vicinity. At about the same time\u00a0DAVID STONECIPHER<\/b>\u00a0entered land and made a settlement on Crooked Fork.\u00a0JOSEPH<\/b>\u00a0and\u00a0BENJAMIN STONECIPHER\u00a0<\/b>entered land adjoining him, while\u00a0EZRA STONECIPHER<\/b>\u00a0located on Beach Fork.\u00a0 In 1814\u00a0MICHAEL STONECIPHER<\/b>\u00a0made an entry on Big Emory.\u00a0 During the same year,\u00a0JOHN M. STAPLES<\/b>\u00a0settled on the south side of Big Emory, near the crossing of the Cincinnati Southern Railroad.\u00a0 He had six sons:\u00a0\u00a0JOHN M., ABNER F., DAVID, WILLIAM, THOMAS AND BENJAMIN T.<\/b>\u00a0 The first two removed to other States.\u00a0 The last named located near Sunbright, the site of which he owned.<\/span>\u00a0 The first settlers on Flat Fork were Elijah\u00a0REESE<\/b>\u00a0and Titus\u00a0ENGLAND<\/b>, both of whom located in 1808.\u00a0 The first to locate on White Oak Creek was\u00a0John FREELS<\/b>, who came in 1811.\u00a0 The next year Royal\u00a0PRICE<\/b>\u00a0settled on Clear Creek, at its junction with Obed River, on land which, prior to that time, had been occupied by William\u00a0SHOEMAKER<\/b>.\u00a0 Among the other pioneers who came to the county prior to 1815 may be mentioned the following:\u00a0 Mathias\u00a0WILLIAMS<\/b>, Ephriam\u00a0DAVIS\u00a0<\/b>\u00a0and Nicholas\u00a0SUMMERS<\/b>, Who located on Crooked Fork.\u00a0 Squire and Morgan\u00a0HENDRICKS<\/b>, who located on Emory River above the\u00a0HALLS<\/b>; John\u00a0WEBB<\/b>, who lived below, on the same stream; Charles\u00a0WILLIAMS<\/b>, Lewis\u00a0RECTOR<\/b>, Littleburg\u00a0BRIENT<\/b>, John\u00a0CRAIG<\/b>, Charles and Andrew\u00a0PREWITT<\/b>, who lived on Little Emory, or its waters; Jesse\u00a0CASEY<\/b>, Zachariah\u00a0EMBREE<\/b>, Hartsell\u00a0HURT<\/b>, who located on Crab Orchard Creek; Jeremiah\u00a0HATFIELD<\/b>\u00a0and Basil\u00a0HUMAN<\/b>, who settled on Bone Camp, and John\u00a0BRASEL<\/b>, Jacob and John\u00a0LAYMANCE<\/b>, Andrew\u00a0SHANNON<\/b>\u00a0and Robert\u00a0McCCARTT<\/b>, whose locations could not be definitely determined.\u00a0 The house known as the “Indian Tavern” is said to have been built by William\u00a0DAVIDSON<\/b>, who came to the county\u00a0 about 1810.\u00a0 He had served in the Revolutionary war as captain of a company of North Carolina militia, and was one of the early settlers of Buncombe County.\u00a0 He was a friend of the Cherokees, could speak their language, and his house became a sort of resort for them, hence its name.\u00a0 As he did not own the land upon which the house was built, he soon removed to land which he entered about one mile south of Kesmet.<\/p>\n

In 1817, the Legislature passed an act providing for the organization of a county to be named in honor of Gen. Daniel\u00a0MORGAN<\/b>.\u00a0 It’s boundaries as then fixed,\u00a0 included a considerable part of what is now Scott, Fentress and Cumberland Counties.\u00a0 The first term of the county court was held in January, 1818, but as the records have been destroyed little is known of its transactions.\u00a0 Soon, however, a town was laid off, on land donated to the county by Daniel S.\u00a0LAVENDER<\/b>, and a jail erected.\u00a0 It was situated thirteen miles west of Wartburg, on the Nashville Road and\u00a0 was known as Montgomery.\u00a0 In 1832 Fentress County was erected and it became necessary to remove the county seat to a more central location.\u00a0 Accordingly, on July 18, 1826, a new town of Montgomery was laid off on ten acres of land purchased from William\u00a0WALL<\/b>\u00a0and lying on the east side of Emory River, about one mile and a half west of Wartburg.\u00a0 The commissioners to locate the site and erect the county buildings were Jacob\u00a0LAYMANCE<\/b>, Chairman; John\u00a0TRIPLETT,<\/b>\u00a0Benjamin\u00a0HAGLER,<\/b>\u00a0John\u00a0ENGLAND,\u00a0<\/b>Sharrach\u00a0STEPHENS<\/b>, Samuel\u00a0SCOTT<\/b>, and Sterling\u00a0WILLIAMS<\/b>. The first lot sold was purchased by Robert\u00a0BUSH<\/b>, a colored blacksmith.\u00a0 Among the merchants who were engaged in business then before the war were--Cox<\/b>, John II,\u00a0BRIENT<\/b>, William\u00a0STAPLES<\/b>, James\u00a0JOHNSON<\/b>, and Constantine\u00a0BRAUSE<\/b>.\u00a0 Thomas S.\u00a0LEA<\/b>, a physician, and Levi\u00a0TREWHITT<\/b>, a lawyer, were also residents of the place.\u00a0 Hotels were kept by Julian\u00a0SCOTT<\/b>\u00a0and John H.\u00a0BRIENT<\/b>.\u00a0 The land around the town, which had previously belonged to William\u00a0WALL<\/b>, was purchased by Samuel\u00a0SCOTT\u00a0<\/b>in 1824.\u00a0 He also entered a large tract of land on Emory River, above the town.\u00a0 He was the father of Thomas, John, Samuel, Russell and Julian F.<\/p>\n

In 1851 the first jail erected was replaced by a new one, and in 1852 the county court appointed commissioners to superintend the erection of a new courthouse which, however, was never entirely completed. \u00a0These buildings were used until 1870, when on March 26 of that year, an election was held to decide upon the removal of the seat of justice to Wartburg.\u00a0 This resulted in a vote of 195 to 149 in favor of the removal, and C.G.\u00a0JOYNER<\/b>, R.A.\u00a0DAVIS<\/b>, L.B.\u00a0SNOW<\/b>, E.H.\u00a0McKATHAN<\/b>, W.L.E.DAVIDSON<\/b>, Amos\u00a0TAYLOR<\/b>\u00a0and J.W.\u00a0DAVIDSON<\/b>\u00a0were appointed commissioners to sell the property in Montgomery with the exception of the jail, and to contract for the building of a courthouse.\u00a0 This building was completed in the following fall at a cost of $3,132.36.<\/p>\n

The town of Wartburg had its origin in a colonization company formed in New York in 1845.\u00a0 The leading members were George F.\u00a0GERDING<\/b>, Augustus\u00a0GUENTHER<\/b>\u00a0and Otto\u00a0KINBUSCH<\/b>.\u00a0 A large amount of land lying in the vicinity of where Wartburg now is, was purchased and sold to colonists who came principally from Switzerland, though some from Germany were among them.\u00a0 Of those who came first, in 1845, may be mentioned, Joseph\u00a0GSCHWEND<\/b>, Jacob\u00a0WESPE<\/b>, Christian\u00a0BREI<\/b>, Simon\u00a0SCHMIDT<\/b>, Christian\u00a0WALT<\/b>, Andrew\u00a0FISCHER<\/b>, Z.\u00a0FISCHER<\/b>, Peter\u00a0BARDILL<\/b>, Anthony\u00a0VOLMAR<\/b>, Bernhardt\u00a0ZOBRIST<\/b>\u00a0and five others.\u00a0 The next year about twenty-five families were added to this number.\u00a0 With the advent of these colonists, a town was laid out and names Wartburg, which in April, 1851, was incorporated with Charles\u00a0KRAMER<\/b>, John\u00a0WHITE<\/b>, Thomas,\u00a0JONES<\/b>, Charles\u00a0HAAG,<\/b>\u00a0and William\u00a0JONES<\/b>\u00a0as commissioners.\u00a0 The first settler on the site of the town is said to have been Walter\u00a0DAVIS<\/b>, who was succeeded\u00a0 by Martin\u00a0HALL.<\/b>\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0DAVIS<\/b>\u00a0kept a public house which stood near the middle of the street nearly in front of the Central House.\u00a0 The first store was opened by F.\u00a0HEYDELMAN<\/b>\u00a0on the lot where Mr.\u00a0SCOTT<\/b>\u00a0now lives.\u00a0 Another store was kept by Mr.\u00a0GERDING\u00a0<\/b>in the building opposite the lot now occupied by John\u00a0HALL<\/b>.\u00a0 Back of this building stood what was known as the Emigration House, a log structure erected for the accommodation of colonists until they could build houses of their own.\u00a0 Among the first emigrants were a number of Catholics, and at one time the building of a monastery was begun, but the war coming on, the work stopped and never resumed.\u00a0 About 1846 a congregation of the Evangelical Lutheran Church was organized and the building still standing east of the Central Hotel was erected as a house of worship.\u00a0 This was occupied until 1854, when it was converted into a schoolhouse and the present church erected.\u00a0 In 1876 a new schoolhouse was built and the old church has since been used as a dwelling.\u00a0 The pastors of the church have been as follows:\u00a0 Revs. George\u00a0WILKEN<\/b>, Theodore\u00a0HIRSCHMAN<\/b>, B.C.\u00a0BRIGMAN<\/b>\u00a0and the present pastor.\u00a0 About 1879 a small Catholic Church was erected by Amelius\u00a0LETOREY<\/b>, who donated it to the bishop of the diocese.\u00a0 A few years ago a Presbyterian Church was organized with about twenty members, with John L.\u00a0MASON<\/b>, Jacob\u00a0BONAFACIUS<\/b>\u00a0and G.\u00a0SCHLICHER<\/b>\u00a0as ruling elders.\u00a0 The pulpit was supplied by Rev. Thomas\u00a0ROBERTS<\/b>\u00a0until 1886 when he was succeeded by John\u00a0SILSBY<\/b>.\u00a0 A church building to cost $1,500 is now under process of erection.<\/p>\n

Since the opening of the Cincinnati Southern Railroad several thriving villages have sprung up along its line.\u00a0 The two most important are Sunbright and Kismet.\u00a0 In the northwest part of the county, at the junction of Clear Fork and White Oak Creek, is the famous Rugby Colony.\u00a0 This colony originated with a company organized in 1877 in Boston, Mass., uner the name of “The Board of Aid to Land Ownership” with which Thomas\u00a0HUGHES<\/b>, Q. C. and John\u00a0BOYLE<\/b>, barrister at law, and other English capitalists afterward became associated.\u00a0 Large tracts of land in Morgan, Scott and Fentress Counties were purchased, and October 5, 1880, the colony was formally opened by Mr.\u00a0HUGHES<\/b>\u00a0in the presence of a large number of English and American settlers.\u00a0 The board at once began and carried out a large amount of useful work.\u00a0 Among the improvements were the Tabord Hotel, the Newbury House, Vine and Pioneer Cottages and a turnpike road to the railroad.\u00a0 In 1881 Christ Church, with a schoolroom below it, was completed at a cost of nearly $5,000 and on June 5, 1882, the corner-stone for the HUGHES Public Library was laid by Mrs.\u00a0HUGHES<\/b>, the mother of Thomas\u00a0HUGHES<\/b>.\u00a0 The library consisting\u00a0 of 6,000 volumes, was donated by the publishers of Boston, New York and Philadelphia.\u00a0 In 1884 the old Tabord Hotel was burned, but in July 1887, a new building, one of the finest of the kind in the South, was opened under the name of the Tabord Inn.<\/p>\n

The village of Rugby now contains a population of from 200 to 300 and is fast becoming known as one of the great health and pleasure resorts in America.<\/p>\n

The following persons have been the officers of the county since its organization, so far as their names could be obtained:\u00a0\u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0<\/b><\/p>\n

Sheriffs<\/b>: Garrett Hall, 1818-1820; James McClintock, Thomas England, Albert Hurt, 1836-1840; Garrett Hall, 1840-1842, Julian F. Scott, 1842-1843;\u00a0 James Wilson, 1843-1848;\u00a0 Jessee Triplett, 1848-1851;\u00a0 Hausley Human, 1851-1856; James M. Melton, 1856-1858;\u00a0 Meshack Stephens, 1858-1860; E. Lavender, 1860-1861;\u00a0James R. Stanfield, 1861-1864:\u00a0\u00a0 Julian F. Scott, 1864-1866;\u00a0\u00a0 J.H. Byrd, 1866-1868;\u00a0\u00a0 J.F. Scott, 1868-1870; John Williams, 1870-1872;\u00a0\u00a0 G.D. Joyner, 1872-1874;\u00a0\u00a0 John Williams, 1874-1876;\u00a0\u00a0 J.F. Scott, 1876-1877; J.M. Staples, 1877, (January to September);\u00a0\u00a0 John Williams, 1877-1878;\u00a0\u00a0 John B. Williams, 1878-1880;\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 G. W. Green, 1880-1885;\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 H. Davidson, 1885-1886;\u00a0\u00a0 Benjamin Brasel, 1886.<\/p>\n

Clerks of the County Court:<\/b>\u00a0\u00a0 William Wall, 1818-1825;\u00a0 Elijah Lavender, 1825-1836;\u00a0 E. G. Kingston, 1836-1839;\u00a0 Samuel P. Vaughn, 1839-1848;\u00a0 G. W. Keith, 1848, 1856:\u00a0 H. Human, 1856-1857;\u00a0 Simon Hurst, 1857-1858;\u00a0\u00a0 James M. Melton, 1858-1861;\u00a0 John H. Brient, 1861-1864;\u00a0 John L. Scott, 1864-1874;\u00a0John Hall, 1874-1877;\u00a0 H. C. Wilson, 1877-1878;\u00a0 M. F. Redman, 1878-1885;\u00a0 J. A. Morris, 1885.<\/p>\n

Clerks of the Circuit Court:<\/b>\u00a0 Robert A. Dabney, A. F. Cromwell; H.G. Bennett, 1836-1840;\u00a0 Thomas S. Lea, 1840-1844; John H. Brient, 1844-1846; W.H. Williams, 1846-1852;\u00a0 John H. Brient, 1852-1856;\u00a0 William J. Scott, 1856-1860; M. Stephens, 1860—-;\u00a0 William J. Scott, 1804–1866;\u00a0 M.F. Redman, 1866-1870;\u00a0 S.H. Staples, 1870-1882; J. W. Scott, 1882—.<\/p>\n

Clerks and Masters:\u00a0\u00a0<\/b>B. T. Staples, 1858-1860;\u00a0 H. H. Lansdon, 1860—;\u00a0 John H. Brient, 1865-1870;\u00a0G. W. Keith, 1870-1882;\u00a0\u00a0 S. H. Staples, 1882.<\/p>\n

Registers:\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<\/b>Benjamin C. White, 1818-1824;\u00a0 Daniel S. Lavender, 1824-1836;\u00a0 Herndon Lea, 1836-1845;\u00a0 Albert Hurt, 1845-1846;\u00a0 J.D. Bennett, 1846-1855;\u00a0 M.M. Brown, 1855-1856;\u00a0 John Williams, Sr., 1856-1860;\u00a0 L.H. Mosier, 1860-1864;\u00a0 Garrett Hall, 1864-1870;\u00a0 W. B. Crenshaw, 1870-1878;\u00a0 John L. Scott, 1878-1886;\u00a0 H. Davidson, 1886.<\/p>\n

Trustees:\u00a0\u00a0<\/b>William D. Fields, 1842-1848;\u00a0 J.C. Martin, 1848-1850;\u00a0 Constantine Brause, 1850-1853;\u00a0 Julian F. Scott, 1853-1854;\u00a0 Albert Hurt, 1854-1860;\u00a0 Jesse Stonecipher, 1860-1866;\u00a0 John McCartt, 1866-1868;\u00a0 M. Lyons, 1868-1872;\u00a0 John Shannon, 1872-1874;\u00a0 William Howard, 1874-1880;\u00a0 John D. Kreis, 1880-1886;\u00a0 M.B. McCartt, 1886.<\/p>\n

\n

BIOGRAPHICAL APPENDIX —\u00a0See bios on Biography page on this site<\/a><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

MORGAN COUNTY\u00a0is situated on the Cumberland Plateau, which has an elevation of about 1,500 feet above the sea.\u00a0 It is surrounded by the counties of Scott, Anderson, Roane, Cumberland and Fentress.\u00a0 The greater portion of the surface is very broken, especially in the southern part.\u00a0 The principal mountains are the Crab Orchard, Lone and Brushy,… Continue reading Goodspeed’s History of Morgan County (1887)<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[14],"tags":[56,65,70,32,53,29,63,25,30,35,20,26,55,18,48,51,49,40,16,22,62,69,27,43,50,58,37,4,60,64,34,46,36,31,19,28,67,66,54,42,33,21,68,45,17,41,15,23,47,44,39,57,38,24,52,59,61,12],"class_list":["post-57","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-history","tag-bardill","tag-bonafacius","tag-boyle","tag-brasel","tag-brei","tag-brient","tag-brigman","tag-casey","tag-craig","tag-davidson","tag-davis","tag-embree","tag-fischer","tag-freels","tag-gerding","tag-gshwend","tag-guenther","tag-hagler","tag-hall","tag-hendricks","tag-hirschman","tag-hughes","tag-hurt","tag-johnson","tag-kinbusch","tag-kramer","tag-lavendar","tag-laymance","tag-letorey","tag-mason","tag-mccartt","tag-mckathan","tag-morgan","tag-prewitt","tag-price","tag-rector","tag-roberts","tag-schlicher","tag-schmidt","tag-scott","tag-shannon","tag-shoemaker","tag-silsby","tag-snow","tag-staples","tag-stephens","tag-stoneciper","tag-summers","tag-taylor","tag-trewhitt","tag-triplett","tag-volmar","tag-wall","tag-webb","tag-wespe","tag-white","tag-wilkin","tag-williams","entry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/tngenweb.org\/morgan\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/57","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/tngenweb.org\/morgan\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/tngenweb.org\/morgan\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tngenweb.org\/morgan\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tngenweb.org\/morgan\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=57"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/tngenweb.org\/morgan\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/57\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3975,"href":"https:\/\/tngenweb.org\/morgan\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/57\/revisions\/3975"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/tngenweb.org\/morgan\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=57"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tngenweb.org\/morgan\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=57"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tngenweb.org\/morgan\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=57"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}